Un-baa-lievable

Subaru ‘Flashback’ - New Subaru Forester

To showcase the safety features of its first self-charging hybrid, Subaru has painted a picture of what flashes before a sheep’s eyes before it becomes roadkill.

‘Flashback’ was created by MullenLowe London, who won the account back in 2017, and promotes the Subaru Forester.

To illustrate the beneficial safety properties of its automatic pre-collision braking, Subaru has turned to the victims of road-collisions – sheep.

The spot opens with a Subaru Forester gliding around a winding mountain pass. Unbeknown to the driver trouble lies ahead, as a sheep who doesn’t get the highway code has made itself comfortable on the road.

As the car shoots around the corner unexpectedly, the sheep looks on like a deer in headlights. Assuming the worst, its life flashes before its eyes – from its cute beginnings as a new-born lamb, through to the present day, covering all the various fields it has found itself in.

Media is being handled by Goodstuff and launches today across TV, digital, PPC, and print. The campaign is also the first time Subaru has run a campaign on dynamic radio, with over 2000 different personalised variants.

Discussing the launch of the campaign, Alexandra Bevan Lyons, head of marketing at Subaru said: “At Subaru, we’re incredibly proud of our commitment to building the safest cars on the road. In this ad we wanted to demonstrate just how impactful Subaru’s EyeSight driver assist technology can be. Rather than go down the line of the cliché emotive car advertising route, we chose an ad that will have standout for all the right reasons.”

Adding to this, Laurence Green, executive partner at MullenLowe London said: “Unlike most car brands, Subaru genuinely deserves an unfair share of our attention: they’re better where it matters, as evidenced by the happy survival of our sheepish co-star.”

Credits:
Agency: MullenLowe London
Executive Creative Director: Mark Elwood
Creative Lead: Gavin Cumine
Creatives: Angus Crombie and Drew Davies
Group Account Director: Maurice Pfister
Account Manager: Charlie Fry
Strategist: James Clee
Producer: Alex Pemberton
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Björn Ruhmann
Director of Photography: Kolja Brandt
Executive Producer: Sara Flood
Producer: Rowena Wallace
Editing House: Trim
Editor: Ross Hallard
Flame and VFX: Jon Hollis @ Raised By Wolves
Colour: Toby Tomkins @ Cheat
Music and Sound Design: Soundtree
Producer: Jay James
Music arranged by: Luis Almau
Sound design and mix: Henning Knoepfel
Client: Subaru
Head of Marketing: Alexandra Bevan Lyons

This article was originally published on The Drum